


Cabin Eight

by minnesotamemelord



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Bible Camp, Bisexual Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., Bisexual Rafael Barba, Camp Counselors AU, Catholic Character, Catholic Guilt, Childhood Sweethearts, Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr. Has a Crush, Episode: s16e01 Girls Disappeared, Flashback, Gen, I started to write this a while ago but I gave up so I'm trying again, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Oblivious Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., POV Rafael Barba, Pining Rafael Barba, Pre-Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., Sort Of, Summer Camp, Summer Love, Sweet Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., Teen Romance, Unnecessary Eye Imagery, it's not really an AU but whatever, there's a good chance this is going to be lengthy as fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19338847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minnesotamemelord/pseuds/minnesotamemelord
Summary: In 1992, there was a summer camp on the south shore of Lake Erie, where two counselors fell in love. In 2015, they found each other again in the squad room of the NYPD’s 16th precinct.





	1. Prologue

 When Rafael entered the room, nothing had changed. The squad, his friends, people he had known for years were sitting around the conference table with a box of donuts. Olivia stood up to greet him.

”Rafa. Thanks for coming in.” She turned around and led him to the conference room. “Let me introduce you to our newest detective-“ The new cop spun around in his chair, and for a moment, Rafael didn’t recognize him. Then he looked past the mustache, past the gray streaks in his hair, and he saw the blue eyes that were burned into his mind like a brand, nearly forgotten for the last twenty-something years.

”Sonny Carisi.” Sonny’s eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped. Literally.

”Rafael.”

”You two... know each other?” They ignored her, charging across the room, slamming into each other in an embrace so tight, neither one could quite breathe. When they finally separated, Rafael turned to her, beaming. 

“We were friends, once upon a time.”

”You going to tell me about it?” Rafael smiled and looked back at Sonny.

”Sure. But not right now. Talk to me about the case.” They sat down on opposite sides of the table, but Rafael could feel him over there, even when he wasn’t looking. He could feel those icy blue eyes on him, and he remembered all those years ago, on the shores of Lake Erie, at a catholic summer camp, when he was young and stupid and free.

 

”Rafael.” Olivia beckoned him into her office, shutting the door behind him. She gestured for him to sit, and he did. She leaned back on her desk and folded her arms.

”What’s up, Liv?”

”Talk to me about Carisi.”

”What’s there to say? We were friends back when we were teenagers.”

”And you just, what, fell out of contact for a quarter of a century?” He shrugged.

”Pretty much, yeah.”

”Rafa, if my new detective and my best friend know each other as well as the two of you do- which I’m pretty sure you do- I’d like to get the full story. Make sure there’s no conflict of interest. So go ahead. Tell me the story.” He nodded, considering.

”Back in the nineties, there was this summer camp on Lake Erie. Camp Beechwood. One of those bible camps that’s technically church-run but isn’t super religious? I got a job there for a few summers- my mom’s idea, to get me away from my dad for the summer. My second year working there, a new counselor was assigned to my cabin.”

”...Carisi.”

”Yeah. Back then, he was just Sonny, this skinny little kid from Staten Island. And when we first met...” he trailed off. “What can I say? We just clicked.”

”So. Summer of...”

”1992.”


	2. First Impressions

Rafael pulled into the familiar gravel drive in his green Corvette, AC/DC cranked high on the stereo. The faded Camp Beechwood sign had a fresh coat of paint on it, but it still looked as though ti could collapse at any given moment. He had offered to fix it dozens of times, or so it seemed, but Mitchell, the camp's associate director, insisted that there was no point in fixing it until it _actually_ broke. Rafael had fired back that if it fell, it could hurt a camper. Mitch just shrugged.

Mitch was jogging across the front lawn now, reaching Rafael just as he pulled into a spray-painted parking spot with a sign that read 'Counselor Of The Year Only.' Every year, at the end of the summer, one counselor won that prestigious title, and the prime parking that came with it. Rafael was two-for-two, having only worked there for two years.

"This is a catholic summer camp, Rafael. Turn that shit off." Rafael flipped off the radio and hopped out of the car.

"Good to see you too, Mitch." Mitch smiled wanly and wrapped Rafael in a one-armed, slightly sweaty hug. Mitch was just taller than him, and about ten pounds overweight, with thick red hair and a puffy beard that swallowed his face. The only open flesh was covered by his thick glasses that had a fishbowl effect on his eyes. Still, he was good people, and they had become pretty good friends over the years. "Is Ben here yet?" The smile dropped off Mitch's face.

"About that."

"About what?"

"Ben's not coming this year."

 _"What?"_ Rafael's voice cut through the air at twice the volume. "What do you mean, 'Ben's not coming?'"

"That. Apparently, he got a job working construction for his girlfriend's uncle or something, and it pays better than we do. Sorry, dude." Rafael leaned back against his car, rattled. Ben had been his best camp friend since they were eight, when Lucia Barba first sent her son upstate for the summer. They had been the Cabin Eight counselors together for the last two years.

"So, who's the other Cabin Eight counselor? I'm not taking six twelve-year-olds by myself for three months."

"'Course not. We got some fresh blood. Some kid with a weird nickname. C'mon, I'll introduce you."

"Why'd you have to put me with the new kid?" Rafael complained as they crossed the front lawn, weaving between a group of early drop-offs playing with a Frisbee and a pair of counselors playing volleyball. "Why couldn't you transfer, I don't know, Pete from Cabin Six over, and stick the new guy in there?"

"It was easier this way. Besides, you're adaptable."

"I don't know what about me makes you think that's true, but-" Mitch stopped, but Rafael was too in his own head to notice, and slammed straight into a tree. No, not a tree. A person, who was just tree-shaped. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry-" Holy shit. The tree-person was a tree-boy, actually, much too tall and lanky for his own good, with wavy brown hair and striking blue eyes, and a slightly crooked grin that made it look like he'd just heard the absolute funniest joke of all time but he couldn't repeat it. He was, for lack of a better explanation, one of the single most beautiful people Rafael Barba had ever laid eyes on. And then he opened his mouth.

"No problem. Dominick Carisi. Call me Sonny." He had the strongest Staten Island accent Rafael had ever heard. It was like the borough had come to life in the form of a very tall, very smiley teenager. Rafael shook Sonny's outstretched hand.

"Rafael Barba." He turned to Mitch. "I take it this is the fresh blood?"

"You bet. Sonny, Rafael's the other counselor for Cabin Eight. Hopefully, you guys get along, because you'll basically be spending every waking- and sleeping- minute of the next three months together." Sonny smiled again, that toothy, lopsided grin.

"Fine by me." Before Rafael could speak, Mitch jabbed him in the side with an elbow and pointed back towards the parking lot.

"Prepare yourselves, boys. The onslaught has arrived." By 'the onslaught' he really meant two coach buses loaded up with city kids between the ages of 8 and 14, boys and girls alike, who didn't want to be there. Rafael would have rather faced an army.

Cabin Eight was the oldest boys' cabin, the 13 and 14 year olds. On one hand, they had far fewer campers than most other cabins. On the other, 13 and 14 year old boys were notorious for being the most rambunctious cabin. It seemed, however, that they had met their match in Sonny Carisi. While Rafael generally had difficulty getting them to participate in the ridiculous icebreakers Mitch planned for the first day, Sonny's overt enthusiasm seemed to inspire them. It was mesmerizing to watch.

Almost all of the boys were ones that had been in Cabin Eight last year, so Rafael was already familiar with them- Brandon, Kevin, Chris J., and Nicky- with two new recruits, just up from Cabin Six- Zack and Chris A. They were all rich white kids from the gentrified parts of Queens and Brooklyn, a demographic that Rafael was very used to dealing with. He found quickly that Sonny was the most challenging to figure out. He kept skirting around him, trying to get a good look, to finally fit together the puzzle, but every time he thought he had, something changed. So when it came time to unpack, the two of them sat in the counselor's room of Cabin Eight, not saying a word. Finally, Sonny broke the silence.

"Top or bottom?" Rafael nearly choked on air.

"What?"

"Top bunk or bottom bunk?" He relaxed. "What did you think I meant?"

"Oh, nothing. Uh, bottom. If you don't mind."

"Nah, that's fine." Sonny tossed his pillow onto the upper bunk. "I snore, anyway. Or so my sister tells me."

"You have a sister?"

"Three."

"Wow."

"You?"

"Nope. Only child."

"Figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rafael looked up at Sonny in mock hurt.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Right." Still, he grinned, and brushed his hair out of his face, straightening the collar of his Camp Beechwood polo shirt. "We should get a move on. Orientation's at the waterfront in five, and we've got to get the good seats." He grabbed Sonny by the elbow and tugged. "Stick with me, man. We're gonna be a good team." Sonny smiled, his dimples deepening into craters.

"I think you might be right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the first *official* chapter. I always appreciate feedback and comments, so let me know what you thought below! -C


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